ABSTRACT
For Gibraltar, constitutional changes could be viewed as reward for the part played by the Colony throughout the wartime years. A bastion guarding the Atlantic approaches to the Mediterranean Sea, the Colony had been a key factor in both the North African and Italian campaigns. Increased autonomy constituted not only recognition of that contribution but also served as recompense to the citizens of Gibraltar for the suffering they had endured between 1939 and 1945. The fortress nature of Gibraltar, allied to its strategic position, had made necessary the introduction of a compulsory evacuation programme for its non-service personnel. The programme began in the late spring of 1940 and involved the evacuation of some 15,000 civilians, mainly women and children, who were despatched to such disparate destinations as the United Kingdom, Madeira, Jamaica and Tangier.2
